US President Donald Trump tells ABC News he thinks there will be an agreement with Iran “over the next week.”
Eight days ago, he declared that a deal was largely negotiated and has repeatedly claimed that the war would end shortly in the three months since he launched it with Israel.
“There was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly, as you probably noticed earlier,” Trump says, referring to Iranian anger over Israeli strikes against Hezbollah. Tehran has insisted that Lebanon be covered by the Iran ceasefire. While the US and Israel have pushed back against such linkage, Washington’s effort to secure another Lebanon truce announcement just hours after Tehran threatened to abandon talks with the over the issue indicated that it the Trump administration wasn’t as committed to separating the two fronts as Jerusalem is.
“I spoke with Hezbollah, and I said no shooting, and I talked to Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu], and said, no shooting, and they both stopped shooting each other,” Trump says. He earlier acknowledged that he didn’t speak with Hezbollah officials directly but rather their “representatives.”
Trump adds in the phone interview with ABC that a peace agreement with Iran could be “even better than a military victory.”
“It’s not an easy thing for them. It’s actually not easy from our standpoint either. But we’re getting what we need to get,” Trump insists.
Trump says he hasn’t agreed to the memorandum of understanding that he suggested was nearly final on May 24 because “I still have to get a few more points.”
Trump enjoys taking cold calls from reporters, but is particularly accessible to speak from his personal phone on days he believes he has an accomplishment to trumpet.